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jacey1) 1/1/12
Rosemary Sutcliffe: Eagle of the Ninth
One of my favourite books forty years ago, I got a good deal on the three connected Rosemary Sutcliffe's Roman Britain novels for my Kindle. (Yes, I know what I said about not re-buying books on Kindle that were already on my shelves but I paid no more for three than I would have done for the third one, which I did not have. What a pity the fourth one 'Frontier Wolf' doesn't seem to be on Kindle yet.)
So this was a re-reading after perhaps twenty years and in the meantime I've seen the movie 'Eagle' which is based on the book (and which I quite enjoyed despite a few diversions from the original story).
Marcus, intent on following his deceased father into the Roman legions is sent north to command a small post on Hadrian's Wall – his first command. Unfortunately it's a short command because, though he acquits himself well, he's seriously wounded in a clash with local tribes and is invalided out before his career has begun. It's while he's recovering in the villa of his elderly uncle that he's moved to buy a British gladiator, Esca, who becomes, at first, his slave and later his friend. When he hatches a plan to go north beyond Hadrian's Wall to recover the eagle of the lost Ninth Legion, Esca goes with him of his own free will.
The Ninth Hispania marched north from Eburacum (York) twelve years earlier and was never seen again, but there are rumours of the all-important Roman eagle – the legion's standard – in the hands of British tribesmen. Marcus has a vested interest because the Ninth was his father's last posting, he was second in command and no one knows what happened to him.
So in the guise of a quacksalver – a travelling occulist – Marcus heads into the wild lands with Esca to begin is search for the honour of his father's legion, learning much, not all of it pleasant or heroic, before finally achieving his aim – though things never turn out quite as imagined at the outset.
Rosemary Sutcliffe: Eagle of the Ninth
One of my favourite books forty years ago, I got a good deal on the three connected Rosemary Sutcliffe's Roman Britain novels for my Kindle. (Yes, I know what I said about not re-buying books on Kindle that were already on my shelves but I paid no more for three than I would have done for the third one, which I did not have. What a pity the fourth one 'Frontier Wolf' doesn't seem to be on Kindle yet.)
So this was a re-reading after perhaps twenty years and in the meantime I've seen the movie 'Eagle' which is based on the book (and which I quite enjoyed despite a few diversions from the original story).
Marcus, intent on following his deceased father into the Roman legions is sent north to command a small post on Hadrian's Wall – his first command. Unfortunately it's a short command because, though he acquits himself well, he's seriously wounded in a clash with local tribes and is invalided out before his career has begun. It's while he's recovering in the villa of his elderly uncle that he's moved to buy a British gladiator, Esca, who becomes, at first, his slave and later his friend. When he hatches a plan to go north beyond Hadrian's Wall to recover the eagle of the lost Ninth Legion, Esca goes with him of his own free will.
The Ninth Hispania marched north from Eburacum (York) twelve years earlier and was never seen again, but there are rumours of the all-important Roman eagle – the legion's standard – in the hands of British tribesmen. Marcus has a vested interest because the Ninth was his father's last posting, he was second in command and no one knows what happened to him.
So in the guise of a quacksalver – a travelling occulist – Marcus heads into the wild lands with Esca to begin is search for the honour of his father's legion, learning much, not all of it pleasant or heroic, before finally achieving his aim – though things never turn out quite as imagined at the outset.
